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    Science. 2004 Jul 16;305(5682):367-71.

    The oceanic sink for anthropogenic CO2.

    Source

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115, USA. chris.sabine@noaa.gov

    Abstract

    Using inorganic carbon measurements from an international survey effort in the 1990s and a tracer-based separation technique, we estimate a global oceanic anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) sink for the period from 1800 to 1994 of 118 +/- 19 petagrams of carbon. The oceanic sink accounts for approximately 48% of the total fossil-fuel and cement-manufacturing emissions, implying that the terrestrial biosphere was a net source of CO2 to the atmosphere of about 39 +/- 28 petagrams of carbon for this period. The current fraction of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions stored in the ocean appears to be about one-third of the long-term potential.

    Comment in

    PMID:
    15256665
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
    Free full text

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